CA State Board Reviews Sex Offender 'Containment Model'
A California state board is currently reviewing the "containment model" and other ways to better manage sex offenders as a new bill (Chelsea's Law) recently cleared its first legislative hurdle.
On the other hand, California lawmakers have not specifically looked at the containment model but are still pushing for stricter overall sex offender laws, the San Diego Union Tribune reports.
The "containment model" is a program designed to enhance traditional supervision of sex offenders and includes house searches, polygraph tests and targeted behavior-modification treatment.
As previously discussed, Chelsea's Law proposes stricter penalties on sex offenders including, in some cases life in prison, or time on parole with electronic monitoring.
Lawmakers are pushing for Chelsea's Law, which is aimed at highest-risk criminals, but at some point may also consider introducing separate legislation for the containment model.
The program has already been rolled out in other places around the country such as Colorado. There, sex offenders are assigned treatment with a sex-offense specialist, must take regular lie detector tests and work with specially trained probation and parole officers.
The California Sex Offender Management Board is looking at how the containment model could have prevented registered sex offender John Gardner, from falling through the system's cracks.
As previously discussed, John Gardner, a 30-year-old registered sex offender has pleaded not guilty to murdering Chelsea King.
At the time 17-year-old Chelsea King was murdered, Gardner already had been convicted of the molestation of Amber Dubois, 14.
Although the model has been touted for years, it hasn't gained much support, mainly for financial and logistical reasons.
California has more sex offenders than any other state, with about 70,000 living in communities. Of those, 6,700 are on parole and 10,000 are on probation, the Union-Tribune reports.
- California Sex Offender Laws Under Review (FindLaw's Blotter)
- CA Assembly Passes Stricter Bill for Sex Offender Laws (FindLaw's Blotter)
- MySpace Removes Convicted Sex Offender John Gardner (FindLaw's Blotter)
- Sex Offenses Overview (provided by Albert L. Wysocki, A Professional Corporation)
- Sex Offender Registry (provided by Karen Scarborough)